The invention relates to a suspension device for a rail, in particular a rail of an overhead conveyor or a lifting gear, having a tensile element which includes a threaded rod and at least one connection part screwed thereto, and having a securing element which prevents the screw connection between the threaded rod and the connection part from being loosened.
A suspension for a crane rail on a supporting mechanism in the form of a cover or a cover profile is known from German patent document DE 10 2005 040 421 B4. A crane can travel along the crane rail via travelling mechanisms. The crane rail is attached to the supporting mechanism via several suspensions spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction of the crane rail. Each of the suspensions consists essentially of an upper attachment part having a first threaded sleeve, a threaded rod and a lower attachment part having a second threaded sleeve. The upper attachment part is attached to the supporting mechanism and the lower attachment part is attached to the rail to be suspended. The lower attachment part is suspended on the upper attachment part via the threaded rod whose opposite ends are screwed into the first threaded sleeve and second threaded sleeve. By using a threaded rod in conjunction with the threaded sleeves, the vertical length of the complete suspension can easily be adapted to the local conditions in order to thus suspend the crane rail in the desired orientation and to distribute the load on the suspensions. In order to protect the connection between the threaded rod and the lower attachment part and the upper attachment part against unscrewing, a spring connector is provided in each case and comprises a pin part and a spring part. For this purpose, the pin part is inserted through a through-going elongate mounting hole in the respective threaded sleeve and a through-going elongate mounting hole in the threaded rod, whilst the spring part lies against the respective threaded sleeve on the outside. The pin part is thus prevented from sliding out of the elongate mounting holes. These suspensions are also configured to swing since this ensures that the crane rails are oriented automatically or come into the condition of equilibrium, i.e., there is no substantial bending load in the tensile element. The swinging suspension is effected via ball-and-socket joint bearings.
So-called turnbuckles are known from the German utility model DE 299 14 578 U1 and from the German laid-open document DE 101 31 183 A1 and are also used for the suspension of rails of overhead monorails in the mining industry. These turnbuckles consist essentially of a central turnbuckle sleeve and two tensioning eyelets laterally connected thereto. The tensioning eyelets each consist of an eyelet to accommodate hooks, bolts or cables, and a shaft, disposed on the eyelet, having an outer thread. The turnbuckle sleeve is formed either as an elongate frame or as a sleeve, on the opposite ends of which are disposed inner threads in the form of nuts. The shafts of the tensioning eyelets are screwed into these nuts. The outer thread of the shafts run in opposite directions which means that the eyelets of the tensioning eyelets can be moved towards each other or away from each other by rotating the turnbuckle sleeve relative to the two tensioning eyelets. In the case of one of the two turnbuckles, provision is also made that the two tensioning eyelets can be blocked with respect to the turnbuckle sleeve. For this purpose, several grooves are disposed in the shafts which extend in each case in the longitudinal direction of the shafts. Mounted on the tensioning eyelets is in each case a resiliently biased pin which can be moved from a pulled-back rest position into a blocking position to block the turnbuckle, the pin protruding into one of the grooves in this blocking position. Such turnbuckles are fundamentally different from the design of the previously described suspension devices since these do not comprise a central threaded rod but rather only two tensioning eyelets having threaded shafts.